Engaging Humor – Writing a Compelling Blog

Okay, it took a couple of extra days, but I was finally able to do a recording of my Toastmasters Speech that was based on the blog series I began writing at the start of the year. So let’s get to it.

This speech completes Level 4 of Engaging Humor for me in Toastmasters.

As you know I wrote a dozen blog entries on how comic books and super heroes influenced my life. This speech is the culmination of all those blogs.

Here is the video recording of the speech, followed by the originally written script for it:

Greetings, Toastmaster, Toastmasters, and honored guests,

I’ve written blogs in the past, but not continuously. My best ongoing blog became my serialized novel REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST. After that it returned to a trickle of posts.

So, why do a Toastmasters Assignment on “Writing A Compelling Blog”?
Toastmasters is about improving our public speaking skills, which has been something I’ve needed. Writing a blog is something I can do all on my own in the silence of my room, then post to my webpage which will only be seen by a few people. It isn’t going to help with my abilities to give a public speech. Will it?

It might not, but I decided the best place to start was to write about what was important to me, what I enjoy, and what makes me… well, me.

That would be comic books and super heroes. So, over a series of twelve posts, I wrote about super heroes. This was not about the publications or who has the best super powers. Instead, it was about how these four-color heroes impacted my life, from when I was a child onward to today. So, I wrote about how super heroes impacted my Christian faith, my educations, and on into my career.

I was consistent with this blog, posting twice a week; only interrupted once during the Los Angeles fires. Even then I dropped in a short post about the fire and asking for prayers for all involved. I then continued on with the series.

The next part of having a blog is having a readership. I’m still working on how to promote my website beyond simply sharing the link on my socials. The best way to see your readership comes in the comment section. However, this is where I hit a snag.

A while ago my site was hit by a series of attacks and I had to ask the provider to increase security. A cost I couldn’t afford, but needed. It also decreased the spam on my site.

What I didn’t know, in adding greater security, was they had locked down the comments. I wouldn’t discover this until a couple of my fellow Toastmasters let me know they couldn’t post or share my pages. It would take a few days to resolve the issue.

Thank you for the help. Thank you also to everyone who did comment once you could. I also want to thank those that responded through social media.

So, how has writing a “Compelling Blog” helped with my public speaking?

Having a blog has helped me conceive of a wider range of ideas and concepts of speeches, and I write in my own voice. Each post in this series on super heroes could be a speech unto themselves. Perhaps writing and posting a blog, and receiving responses from the readers, might be a way to prepare for an upcoming speech, like this one.

From the constructive and encouraging comments I received it is clear I have written a “Compelling Blog.”

I plan to continue this blog, but one thing I still must learn: is how best to promote my website.

Thank you.

And thank you all for reading my blogs over the last couple months. I’m going to keep at it as I come up with new ideas and themes to write about.

Best,
Kevin